“Black Snow; Curtis LeMay, the Firebombing of Tokyo and the Road to the Atomic Bomb” is author James M. Scott’s latest release. In some ways it is a sequel to his previous book “Rampage” about the battle for Manila. I consider James to be one of the greatest historical writers of our generation. There are many fascinating historical characters presented in this book but principally focuses on Curtis LeMay – one of the Army Air Corps, later Air Force’s most [...]
“The Shot: The Harrowing Journey of a Marine in the War on Terror” tells the story of Sgt. Bill Bee’s narrow brush with death and the challenges he faced post- service. It is co-authored by Sgt. Bee and Daily Mail editor Wills Robinson. Bill was deployed with his unit in the Helmand Province of Afghanistan when Goran Tomsevic, a Serbian embedded reporter from Reuters joined them. Bill did not have much respect for “embeds” after his first reporter requested to [...]
Cobra gunship pilot Lew Jennings flew 726 missions in Vietnam, receiving over 50 combat decorations including three Distinguished Flying Cross citations for Valor and 36 Air Medals. He published a memoir about helicopter combat in Vietnam named “19 Minutes to Live”. He joins us as part of our partnership with the Distinguished Flying Cross Society. Vietnam was considered the first “helicopter” war. Over 12,000 helicopters flew 5.25 million sorties. Eighty percent of the light observation helicopters, forty seven percent of [...]
9/11 survivor & FDNY Veteran Tim Brown lost nearly 100 of his friends in the September 11 terrorist attacks, including his two best friends. He has made it his mission to assure that our nation never forgets. Tim is no stranger to the face of terrorism. He responded to the 1993 World Trade Center Bombing and was dispatched to help with the recovery efforts following the 1995 Oklahoma City Bombing. But nothing could have prepared him for the events [...]
Irv Brandt’s evolution from a Navy torpedo man to law enforcement was an awkward transition but it worked out. Irv served with the US Marshal Service for more than 20 years. After leaving the Navy, he went to college to study business. After Black Monday no one was hiring business majors, but there were lots of opportunities in Law Enforcement. “I went into law enforcement and it turns out I was really good at it.” As a member of the [...]
A “moral injury” can occur in response to witnessing behaviors that go against an individual’s values and moral beliefs. I was first introduced to this concept by Col. Marc Walker of the 12th Air Force and asked him to explain it further to our listeners. Clearly, in war, there are many situations that can cause moral injury. These can include death or harm to civilians, “same team” violence, concealed acts of cowardice, sexual trauma or the inability to prevent death [...]
“Frogmen” was the nickname given to the members of the newly formed Underwater Demolition Teams (UDT) during World War II. Their fellow service members called them “Half Fish, Half Nuts”. They were the predecessors of today’s Navy SEAL teams. George Morgan The history of the formation of these special units is the subject of a new book by award winning journalist & author Andrew Dubbins. It is called “Into Enemy Waters; a World War II Story of the [...]
Valor Club is an innovative master planned community specifically designed for transitioning Veterans. The development will be built on 200 acres five miles southeast of San Antonio. At full build out, the $330 million dollar community will include 1,400 residential units on a campus also featuring various support amenities and services. This community will be the first of its kind on this scale. Michael McDowell is the President & CEO of Valor Club and a Marine Veteran with multiple combat [...]
Hometown Heroes Radio creator and host Paul Loeffler has done some amazing work assuring that the stories of World War II and Korean era Veterans are not lost to history. Since 2005 Paul has interviewed an average of one World War II Veteran per week. Much of Paul’s inspiration came from an early moment in his life when he accidentally came across a framed newspaper article hidden away in his grandfather’s closet. It described how Dr. Robert Loeffler pulled 26 [...]
Landing craft and the men who sailed them were often unheralded. But they were a critical part of our victory in World War II. They were especially important to the island hopping campaign in the Pacific theater. Like many of his generation, Steven Ganzberger enlisted as soon as he turned 18 following the attack on Pearl Harbor. His grandson Zach Morris has always been an avid World War II historian. He was visiting town on May 18, 2011 and decided [...]